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As previously set out in the response to S6W-16651 on 21 April 2023 recruitment of the 1,000 additional roles to support community mental health resilience, ensuring every GP Practice has access to a mental health and wellbeing service has not yet commenced. The re-profiling of spend means that recruitment for this programme continues to be paused in 2023-24. We have already prioritised significant investment to build mental health capacity in primary care through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund, with funding for posts continuing in 2023-24.

We continue to focus on delivery of our mental health and wellbeing strategy and recently published delivery plan, which includes commitments around mental health in primary care.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The vast majority of spending on mental health is delivered through NHS board budgets – and this is not directly affected by the Path to Balance reprioritisation. Between the Scottish Government and NHS boards we expect spending on Mental Health to be well in excess of £1.3 billion in financial year 2023-24.

The 2023-24 direct mental health budget of £260.3 million is still more than double the 2020-21 mental health budget of £117.1 million and will support delivery of the new ten-year Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and recently published delivery plan. The Delivery Plan has been produced with affordability and deliverability within that financial envelope as a primary consideration.

Ending homelessness continues to be a key priority for the Scottish Government. Our ambition can only be achieved through a shared public responsibility when government and partners all play their part.

With that in mind, I met with the Scottish Veterans Commissioner on 30 November and have agreed a number of actions to raise the profile of veterans’ housing and homelessness issues with relevant stakeholders such as local authorities and social landlords.

I have also discussed with the Minister for Veterans how we can work together to provide support to veterans and their families and I have invited him to join the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness, which brings together ministers from a range of portfolios across the Scottish Government to identify the actions required to prevent and end homelessness, including for veterans.

As part of the annual Homelessness in Scotland publication, the Scottish Government releases national statistics on the number of households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness by former armed forces status. Table T22 in the main tables, in the supporting documents of the most recent publication, provides data from 2018-19 to 2022-23. These statistics are available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-2022-23/

Additional statistics about veteran homelessness in Scotland, including the number of homelessness applications by former armed forces status, is available here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-veteran-homelessness/

Note, these figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 for disclosure control purposes and totals may not sum due to rounding.

The Scottish Government measures progress against the commitment to increase GP numbers using headcount data as this provides an accurate number of GPs registered on the Performers List in Scotland at the time the data is collected. Currently whole-time equivalent data is calculated as an estimate, based on returns from General Practices through the General Practice Workforce Survey.

The latest publication can be found here: General practice workforce survey 2022 - General practice workforce survey - Publications - Public Health Scotland

The Scottish Government uses both headcount and whole-time equivalent data to inform workforce planning to increase GP capacity.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving mental health service provision in primary care settings. The newly published Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan sets out our ambition to drive a shift in the balance of care across mental health to ensure a focus on prevention and early intervention in the community, including a focus on providing high quality mental health care in General Practice, by:

• Working collaboratively to improve access to support, assessment and treatment in primary care mental health and wellbeing services. This will include the development of multi-disciplinary teams in general practice, and maximising the role of community mental health teams, digital provision and NHS 24 to make access simpler and quicker, aligning care and quality with the Getting it Right For Everyone (GIRFE) principles. We will produce an initial report on progress, which will include equality impacts, by November 2024;
• Publish guidance on measuring and evaluating outcomes from mental health and wellbeing services in primary care by the end of 2023. This includes data indicators for protected characteristics and deprivation; and
• Continue to include primary care and community mental health as priorities within the Mental Health Outcomes Framework.

We will work with partners, including primary care stakeholders, to progress this ambition.

Additionally, as at 12 July 2022, 958.9 whole time equivalent (WTE) mental health roles have been filled using Action 15 funding, including 356.1 WTE posts in GP practices. Having met and exceeded the Action 15 commitment, the Scottish Government has continued to fund the roles that were recruited to.

By March 2023 186 WTE mental health workers had been recruited under the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF). The PCIF also funds Community Link Workers (CLWs) as part of primary care multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) and, at March 2023, more than 308 WTE CLWs were in post supporting GP practices. We are investing almost £190 million (£170m plus Agenda for Change Uplifts) in the Primary Care Improvement Fund in 2023-24, for the ongoing development of primary care multi-disciplinary teams and we have committed to the PCIF being £170m plus Agenda for Change uplifts in future years.

Edinburgh City Council has indicated their strong interest in Safer Drug Consumption Facilities and have commissioned a feasibility study. The findings of which are being finalised and should be released early 2024.

At present there has not been, and currently are no plans for a feasibility study in Dundee. However, a feasibility study focusing on heroin assisted treatment was completed and was presented and discussed by Dundee Alcohol and Drug Partnership. This study will also be made public sometime in the New Year.

a) The Scottish Government collect data on police recorded crimes. In 2020-21 the police recorded 30,344 crimes of drugs possession, in 2021-22 they recorded 23,747 crimes of drugs possession and in 2022-23 they recorded 22,356 crimes of drugs possession. Scottish Government also publish additional information on Drugs Seizures and Offender Characteristics . The most recent publication contains data relating to the 2020-21 and 2021-22 financial years. Table 4b of this publication (copied below) provides estimated numbers of drug possession crimes by drug classification. The data presented in this table is based on a random sample of cases recorded by the police. As this analysis is based on a sample of police records (rather than all records), the counts presented in the table are estimates. The true value may differ slightly from the findings presented below due to sampling error.

Estimated number of drug possession crimes by drug classification, 2020-21 to 2021-22

The vast majority of spending on mental health is delivered through NHS board budgets – and this is not directly affected by the Path to Balance reprioritisation. Between the Scottish Government and NHS boards we expect spending on Mental Health to be well in excess of £1.3 billion in financial year 2023-24.

The 2023-24 direct mental health budget of £260.3 million is still more than double the 2020-21 mental health budget of £117.1 million and will support delivery of the new ten-year Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and recently published delivery plan. The Delivery Plan has been produced with affordability and deliverability within that financial envelope as a primary consideration.

Financial planning to address the significant challenges our public finances face took place in advance of the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance's update on the 2023-24 in-year budget changes on 21 November.

The difficult decisions which have had to be taken, have allowed us to help balance the Scottish Government's budget, while still progressing implementation of our mental health and wellbeing strategy from a revised direct budget of £260.3 million.

As set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual grant payments should not be made in advance of need.